UPDATE: Trump later tweeted about his “Big Victory”. He’s still wrong.

Received so many Congratulations from so many on our Big Victory last night, including from foreign nations (friends) that were waiting me out, and hoping, on Trade Deals. Now we can all get back to work and get things done!

Legendary CBS journalist, Dan Rather, spelled it out: “Democratic control of the House will change the course of history.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very big deal.”

I think with a lot of high hopes crashing for Democratic voters in places like Florida and with Beto, there is maybe a drastic underappreciation of how Democratic control of the House will change the course of this country. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very big deal.

The Big One – Impeachment

Democrats have already said they will push for Trump’s impeachment if they were to take back control of the House.

If evidence surfaces that he obstructed justice or that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, then the process would likely proceed.

But there is a common misunderstanding about what the term actually means – impeachment itself is only the filing of the relevant charges.

Theprocess begins with the House Judiciary Committee reviewing charges against an official, and determining if there are grounds for impeachment.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The full House of Representatives votes on one or more articles of impeachment, and if at least one gets a simple majority vote, the official is indicted and considered impeached.

This is more likely now Democrats have a House majority, but they would almost certainly be thwarted by the next stage – a trial in the Senate presided over by the Supreme Court Chief Justice, with the Senate acting as jury.

Republicans last night strengthened their majority in the Senate and a two-thirds majority is required to remove a president from office, meaning this would only happen if Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation uncovered something incredibly damning, or...

The Tax Returns

Control of the House brings with it the ability to launch committees and investigations and one of the things Democrats have been desperate to get their hands on is Trump’s tax returns.

On Monday Trump shrugged off the possibility, saying: “I don’t care. They can do whatever they want, and I can do whatever I want.”

Fact check: losing control of the House, losing several key governorships in red states, and losing the popular vote total by millions is objectively not a “tremendous success” for Republicans. Trump will take credit for every win, pass blame for every loss. https://t.co/cl9NuJ4pG6

The Wall

Trump has had a rough time trying to get anything of substance done in the White House and has repeatedly struggled to pass legislation – even with Republican control of the House and the Senate.

Democrats will now force him to scale back his legislative ambitions even further, possibly dooming his plans to fund a border wall with Mexico, a major plank of his presidency and one his die-hard supporters have become very attached to.

Russia, North Korea And Iran

Democrats are likely to use their new majority to reverse what they see as a hands-off approach by Republicans toward Trump’s foreign policy, and push for tougher dealings with Russia, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.

The President has been notoriously reluctant to criticise Vladimir Putin even as more and more evidence emerges the Russian President interfered in the 2016 election.

SIPA USA/PA Images
Trump and Putin met in Helsinki in July of this year.

Representative Eliot Engel, the Democrat in line to head the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said they may also push for congressional authorisation for the use of military force in places like Iraq and Syria.

But on some hot-button areas, like China and Iran, he acknowledged there was little they could do to change the status quo.

Now that they have taken control of the 435-member House of Representatives for the first time since 2011, Democrats will decide what legislation is considered in the chamber and have a bigger role in setting spending policy and writing legislation.

“I don’t think we should challenge something just because it’s put forth by the administration, but I do think we have an obligation to review policies and do oversight,” Engel told Reuters in a telephone interview.